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The Legacy of Uranium Development on Or Near Indian Reservations and Health Implications Rekindling Public Awareness

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The Legacy of Uranium Development on Or Near Indian Reservations and Health Implications Rekindling Public Awareness Geosciences 2015, 5, 15-29; doi:10.3390/geosciences5010015 OPEN ACCESS geosciences ISSN 2076-3263 www.mdpi.com/journal/geosciences Review The Legacy of Uranium Development on or Near Indian Reservations and Health Implications Rekindling Public Awareness Anita Moore-Nall Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173480, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected]; Tel.: +1-406-587-9769 Academic Editors: Jose A. Centeno, Robert B. Finkelman and Olle Selinus Received: 1 January 2015 / Accepted: 26 January 2015 / Published: 3 February 2015 Abstract: Uranium occurrence and development has left a legacy of long-lived health effects for many Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States. Some Native American communities have been impacted by processing and development while others are living with naturally occurring sources of uranium. The uranium production peak spanned from approximately 1948 to the 1980s. Thousands of mines, mainly on the Colorado Plateau, were developed in the western U.S. during the uranium boom. Many of these mines were abandoned and have not been reclaimed. Native Americans in the Colorado Plateau area including the Navajo, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and several other Pueblo nations, with their intimate knowledge of the land, often led miners to uranium resources during this exploration boom. As a result of the mining activity many Indian Nations residing near areas of mining or milling have had and continue to have their health compromised. This short review aims to rekindle the public awareness of the plight of Native American communities living with the legacy of uranium procurement, including mining, milling, down winders, nuclear weapon development and long term nuclear waste storage. Keywords: uranium; Native Americans; community based participatory research; abandoned mines; reservations 1. Introduction Native American communities on American Indian reservations located with natural resources on or near their lands may be at a greater risk for environmentally induced ailments [1]. The impact of natural Geosciences 2015, 5 16 resource development has not always been fully recognized with respect to the cultural and health effects of the people and animals of these lands. Sometimes the effects are not realized until after the fact when problems associated with resource extraction or cleanup may already be impacting the health of the population [2–8]. On some reservations a lack of education and knowledge about the effects of geologic materials such as uranium and coal led to long term health problems when resources were developed [7]. In this short review the effects of uranium procurement will be addressed, though many other factors may also be contributing to poor health of the Native American populations with natural resources on or near their lands. Technologically-enhanced, naturally-occurring radioactive material (TENORM) is produced when activities such as uranium mining or milling concentrate or expose radioactive materials that occur naturally in ores, soils, water, or other natural materials [9]. Radioactive materials can be classified under two broad headings: man-made and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). Both of these materials affect many Americans but especially the Native American populations in the United States and Canada, whose designated lands host uranium deposits. Mining of uranium by underground and surface methods produces bulk waste material, including tailings and overburden. During mining the waste rock and soil have little or no practical use, they are generally stored on land near the mine site [10,11]. These materials contain NORM which may become dispersed in the environment through airborne dust and contaminated water. Continued exposure to these materials can cause severe health problems [10,12]. Abandoned conventional uranium mines often contain other hazardous contaminants, such as metals. For example, the carcinogen arsenic may be a problem at some uranium mines, contributing to increased health risks [11]. 1.1. The Quest for Uranium The origin of the Department of Energy is traced to World War II and the Manhattan Project effort to build the first atomic bomb [13]. The “Manhattan Project” was conducted mainly at the Los Alamos National Scientific Laboratory, a huge fortified compound created in 1943 [14] on the Pajarito Plateau, northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on land supposedly reserved for the exclusive use and occupancy of the San Ildefonso Pueblo [15]. Uranium, the key material used in the lab’s experiments and eventual fabrication of prototype nuclear weapons, was mined and milled in four centers of the nearby Navajo Reservation [6,9,16] including reservation land near Shiprock, New Mexico; Monument Valley, Utah; Church Rock, New Mexico; and Kayenta, Arizona. Hanford, a uranium enrichment/plutonium manufacturing facility, was added in 1943, near the town of Richland, on Yakima land in eastern Washington [16,17]. The Hanford area bordering the Columbia River was home to several tribes of Native Americans for centuries. Remnants, artifacts, and burial sites associated with historical Native American activity are found throughout the Site and are protected by law [16]. On 16 July 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb was detonated 200 miles south of Los Alamos at Trinity Site on the Alamogordo bombing range [13,14], now the White Sands Test Range, adjoining the Mescalero Apache Reservation. It is this quest for uranium and these different aspects of the procurement plus the disposal and storage of waste that continues to contribute to poor health among many Native American populations. Many cancer clusters and other ailments are attributed to this quest. Geosciences 2015, 5 17 1.2. Uranium Production on Native American Lands The uranium production peak spanned from approximately 1948 to the early 1980s primarily to produce uranium for weapons and later for nuclear fuel [9,10]. Thousands of mines, mainly on the Colorado Plateau, were developed in the western U.S. during the uranium boom. Native Americans in the area including the Navajo, Southern Ute, Ute Mountain, Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and several other Pueblo nations, with their intimate knowledge of the land often led miners to uranium resources during this exploration boom [5,8]. There are about 4000 uranium mines with documented production [10]. With information provided by other federal, state, and tribal agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 15,000 abandoned uranium mine locations with uranium occurrence in 14 western states with about 75% of those on federal and tribal lands [10]. The majority of these sites were conventional (open pit and underground) mines [10]. Between 1950 and 1989 surface and underground mines in the U.S. produced more than 225 million tons of uranium ore [8]. Figure 1 shows the abandoned uranium mines in the western United States. Figure 1. Uranium locations from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) database and Federal Lands. The green federal lands are Native American reservations. About three-fourths of the uranium locations in the EPA Uranium Location Database are on Federal Lands. Figure is modified from Geographic Analysis on the Location of Uranium Mines [9]. 1.2.1. The Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation was one of the Indian nations heavily affected by this activity with more than a thousand mines and four uranium mills on the reservation lands [5,6,8]. When mining came to the Geosciences 2015, 5 18 reservation the Navajo men were ready to gain employment and the close work seemed ideal. What they didn’t realize was that they were being exposed to radiation when they worked and brought it home with them in their clothing to their families [6]. Energy material may contain harmful chemical substances that, if mobilized into air, water, or soil, can adversely impact human health and environmental quality [18]. As a result of the mining activity much of the population of the Navajo Nation residing near the areas of mining or milling has had their health compromised. Many of the miners developed cancers; some were lung cancer from inhalation of radioactive particles, i.e., exposure to radon [6]. Of the 150 Navajo uranium miners who worked at the uranium mine in Shiprock, New Mexico until 1970, 133 died of lung cancer or various forms of fibrosis by 1980 [19]. Other potential health effects include bone cancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to radionuclides in drinking water [12]. The government and the mining companies failed to inform the people of the Navajo Nation that working with uranium might be hazardous to one’s health [2–8]. The Public health Service even conducted a study to document the development of illnesses as the mining progressed without consent or presenting the data to the miners involved [5,8]. Most of the 1000 unsealed tunnels, unsealed pits and radioactive waste piles still remain on the Navajo reservation today, with Navajo families living within a hundred feet of the mine sites [9,20]. Some of the homes were built with tailings material and much of the water is contaminated on the reservation [20]. Figure 2 shows a sign erected by the Navajo and U.S. EPA which is typical for many of the water sources on the reservation. Figure 2. Sign erected by the Navajo and U.S. EPA which is typical for many of the water sources on the reservation. Figure from EPA Pacific Southwest Region 9 Addressing Uranium Contamination on the Navajo Nation [21]. 1.2.2. Laguna Pueblo Tribe The Village of Paguate (Laguna Pueblo), 40 miles west of Albuquerque, New Mexico was host to the largest open-pit uranium mine in the United States, the Jackpile Mine [22,23]. The mine was the largest producer of uranium ore in the Grants District [24]. Though the site was officially reclaimed in 1995 it is being considered for a National Priorities Listing (NPL) with the EPA after a Record of Geosciences 2015, 5 19 Decision (ROD) Compliance Assessment for Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine was performed to determine if the post-reclamation had met the requirements of the Environmental Impact Statement and ROD.
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